Sentimental Heart
by What She Doesn't Know
Summary: With sudden realization, he finds that he's saved her life. Peeta Mellark, the baker's son, has saved that girl's life. /Oneshot. Peeta-centric.


It's storming outside, buckets of icy water pouring down, and he's grateful for the warm shelter of the bakery. No, not _warm_; it's burning hot in here, as it usually is, with all the fires and the ovens blazing, but it's still better than being out there. As the baker's son, he's expected to work hard in the family business, but that suits him just fine. Baking bread isn't necessarily his favorite activity, but there's no profit to be made from painting. Even the wealthier residents of District Twelve usually don't bother with such extravagances.

But he's at least _adequate _at baking, and it's not so bad, working with his father. Of course, his _mother _is a different story; he loves her, he really does, but she does have a temper, and she hits _really _hard. So he mostly tries not to make her mad.

He's smiling to himself, inhaling the intoxicated scent of baking bread, when his mother storms out of the bakery, muttering something about "damn little scavenging dirty brats." Concerned- and curious- he glances up from the ovens, through the small window, and even though it's raining, he can still plainly see his mother towering over some skinny girl dressed in a loose hunter's jacket who appears to have been going through the trash. She's so thin she looks like a strong gust of wind might blow her over, but she's silent as his mother screams at her.

Suddenly, he feels a rush of pity for this girl. Though he doesn't live in the Seam, he's not ignorant to all of the starvation-caused deaths in District Twelve. From time to time, you see the bodies, lying on the ground, cold and stiff and _horrible_. But it's the way life is. Really, it's no different than watching the Hunger Games every year.

Still, he's never seen someone this close to dying before. Sure, he sees the bodies, but those are different, and so are the Games, and this… _this _is like _watching _someone die.

And he _knows _her. Not very well, of course; he doesn't think that they've ever said anything to each other, but he recognizes her. She's in his class at school, but she doesn't hang around the same kids he does. She mostly keeps to herself, actually; he's noticed her now and again, always hanging on the fringes of the group, always looking alone but not lonely. And now she's here. She's outside the bakery and he _knows _that she's dying.

So he burns the bread.

His mother isn't too happy when she finds out. Actually, she hits him. Hard. But he's used to that. She tells him that he's useless and to get the hell out of there and he does, the burned crusts of the bread scorching the skin of his hand, the muddy water sloshing up over his shoes. He glances at her, but she doesn't seem to notice. She's slumped against an apple tree by the pig pen, and he's trying to remember her name- it starts with a _K_, he knows. Kat-something.

Then his mother's voice, "Feed it to the pigs, you stupid creature! Why not? No one decent will buy burned bread!"

He tears off a few chunks and throws it into the trough, careful not to take too much. When he burned the bread, he wasn't thinking much about _why_, but he has to give it to the girl. If she dies, if he sees her body or if she doesn't show up at school or if she just disappears, he'll never forgive himself. He can save her. He has the power to save her, and that's why he burned the bread. So he can give it to her, so he can save her.

You see, he's a pretty nice guy, the baker's son. The Games are bad enough. He doesn't want to have to see anyone else die.

He glances towards the bakery, making sure that his mother isn't watching, and then tosses both the loaves of bread towards her. Doesn't look at her. His face is burning. He keeps his back to her and walks back away, back towards the bakery. His cheek hurts where his mother struck him.

If he turns, he knows that he'll see the girl picking up the bread and turning and running away, back towards her family, back to feed her family. Or maybe her family's dead and she'll take them to eat by herself, to keep her alive that much longer. Whatever happens, she's not dying. Not tonight.

With sudden realization, he finds that he's saved her life. Peeta Mellark, the baker's son, has saved that girl's life.

* * *

><p>The next day, at school, he sees her. By now, he has a black eye and the side of his face is swollen (he tells his friends that he got in a fight to impress them, and thankfully, they don't care enough to ask who he fought with) and they grin and laugh. And then he sees her. The girl outside in the rain. The girl whose life he saved.<p>

And of course he thinks, _Oh, geez, this is embarrassing._ He's a guy, after all.

He pretends not to notice her for the rest of the day. He talks and laughs with his friends and rolls his eyes when he tells them about how impossible his parents are (if only they knew) and pretends that she isn't there, but really, he can't stop thinking about her.

The teacher calls on her. _Katniss_.

Her eyes are gray, like storm clouds, like steel.

She doesn't catch him watching her, which he's grateful for.

What happened to her? Why did she have to resort to rooting through the trash for food? What would have happened to her if he hadn't given her the bread?

He knows the answer, at least to the last one. She would have died. He saved her life and he might have saved her entire family's life, so he deserves to know a little about her, doesn't he? He's _entitled _to information about this Katniss. And he can't deny that he's curious.

Curiosity. In the beginning, that's all it is. Curiosity that causes him to look out the window and see her. Curiosity that causes him to begin to know more about her. And, eventually, he's going to fall in love with her, but he doesn't know that part yet.

He glances at her again, after school this time. She's holding hands with a small girl who looks nothing like her, but he assumes that she's Katniss's sister. The little kid looks thin, but happy. Golden hair and blue eyes. Cute. Smiling.

Katniss looks up. Her eyes meet his.

Color floods her cheeks. She glances away, down at the ground. Reaches down. Does something he doesn't expect.

She picks a dandelion.

* * *

><p>Yeah, he deserves to know more about her. He saved her. He saved her mother and her sister, too, by giving Katniss the bread. It's only fair that he gets a little information about this girl with the steel eyes and the dark braid. The girl who picked the dandelion. The girl in the rain.<p>

As the years go by, he finds that he's jealous of Gale Hawthorne. Sure, they don't interact at school, but everyone knows that Gale and Katniss are hunting partners. _Illegal _hunting partners, but no one really cares about that part. Gale knows Katniss, and Peeta probably never will.

Peeta Mellark is falling for a girl who he's never spoken to.

He doesn't know that he loves her until the day of the reaping. Really, all he hears is _Everdeen, _and he could swear that his heart stops beating. _Everdeen. Everdeen_. He's a horrible person, because when he sees that it's Primrose, little tiny Primrose, who is destined to die instead, he feels a surge of guilty relief. Because she's not Katniss.

And then Katniss volunteers.

One chance in thousands, like finding a diamond. Or getting stuck by lightning. His name is pulled. He's going to the Hunger Games.

He's going to die.

And, quite possibly, so is she.

They shake hands. Hers is cold and clammy. She's nervous, scared, and he doesn't blame her. He's nervous and scared, too. There are a hint of tears, like she's holding back sobs.

But beneath that, he sees strength in her eyes. Determination. She wants to win. And she can. If she wins, he'll have to die. If he wins, she'll have to die. Really, he doesn't have a choice. If he's going to help her… if he's going to save her…

It's stupid. He's never spoken to her. She probably doesn't even remember that day, years ago. But he'll never forget.

* * *

><p><em>Their tears are filling up their glasses<em>

_No expression, no expression_

_Hide my head I wanna drown my sorrow_

_No tomorrow, no tomorrow_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So... rereading The Hunger Games, and this springs to mind. Gotta love Peeta. I hope I didn't completely murder his character. Review, please.**

**I do not own The Hunger Games.  
><strong>


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